Jan. 5, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's hockey dominated for the second straight night against Chatham, easing to a 4-0 victory on Saturday at Greenberg Ice Pavilion. Junior assistant captain Jenna Welch (Austin, Texas) scored twice and linemate Katie Zinn (Coquitlam, B.C.) posted three points behind her first collegiate goal and two assists.
Penn State (7-12-1) out-shot Chatham, 71-16, peppering the Cougar (1-9-0) net led by Tess Weaver's (Windber, Pa.) 12-shot output. The Nittany Lions featured a new look lineup including five new faces in Cara Mendelson (Pittsburg, Pa.), Stephanie Walkom (Moon Township, Pa.), Katie Murphy (Novi, Mich.), Kate Christoffersen (Trumbull, Conn.), Madison Smiddy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Zinn.
The Nittany Lions opened the account 5:07 into the game when Zinn accepted a Paige Jahnke (Oakdale, Minn.) pass from the left wing, zipping a shot past Chatham netminder Katilynn Smith (67 saves). The play was set up by Welch, who dove to breakup a Chatham pass, before Zinn and Jahnke combined for the give-and-go. Smith stood tall in the frame, stopping 18 shots to hold the lead to 1-0 after a 19-4 PSU shot advantage.
Welch doubled the Penn State lead 1:46 into the second period, cashing in on a rebound from Smiddy's shot from the point. Zinn earned the assist by whipping a pass from the left wing to Smiddy. Penn State went on to out-shoot Chatham 27-5 in the period.
In the third, the Nittany Lions turned a two-goal game into a four-goal contest with a pair of tallies just 58 seconds apart. Welch sent home a Zinn offering before Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) scored for the third straight game 10:11 into the frame. Jahnke earned her second assist of the night on the play.
In net, Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) earned her first collegiate victory, combining for the second straight Penn State shutout with Brooke Meyer (Naperville, Ill.). The duo made 16 saves, 12 by Whitlinger and four by Meyer, for the clean sheet.
The defensive unit of Jeanette Bateman (Greeley, Colo.), Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.), Lindsay Reihl (Cheshire, Conn.), Walkom, Jahnke and Smiddy combined to limit Chatham's chances, with only 22 combined efforts toward the net, compared to Penn State's 119.
Up front, Holdcroft's linemates Micayla Catanzariti (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) and Birdie Shaw (Troy, Mich.) had 12 shots and a plus-three rating. Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.), Zinn and Welch each had plus-three ratings to lead the Nittany Lions. Darby Kern (Venetia, Pa.) appeared in her sixth straight game with two shots and two blocks, while Kendra Rasmussen (Sartell, Minn.) added six shots of her own.
The Nittany Lions dominated the faceoffs as well, going 30-11, led by Laurenzi's 12-3 record and Rasmussen's 8-2 mark.
Penn State gave rests to the top four scorers on the team--Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.), Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Jess Desorcie (Westford, Vt.) and Hannah Hoenshell (Plano, Texas). That quadrant of Nittany Lions scored four goals and five assists on Friday night in a 10-0 win over Chatham. Freshman defender Sarah Wilkie (Ashby, Mass.) was rested for tonight's game as well, while No. 1 goalie Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) also sat out.
Penn State travels to Union next week for a two-game series against the Dutchwomen.
--NITTANY LIONS--